Colorado Mesa Wins RMAC Men’s, Women’s Titles As Men Set Points Record

Press releases courtesy of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (NCAA Division II):

Day 1

LEWISVILLE, Texas – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up Day One of the RMAC Championships at the LISD Westside Aquatic Center in Lewisville, Texas.
The day kicked off with prelims in the men’s and women’s 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle and men’s 3-meter dive before finals took center stage.

• 1000 YD FREESTYLE
  • On the women’s side, Colorado School of Mines Mia Wood, had a four second advantage but Colorado Mesa Isabelle Hansson pulled in late to make it close before Woods won in 10:19.91. Hansson finished second in 10:21.88.
  • On the men’s side, Colorado Mesa freshman Logan Ellis had a come from behind win to earn the title in 9:24.64 ahead of Oklahoma Baptist sophomore Alfredo Arrieche (9:28.46), who led from the beginning until the final length.
• 50 YD FREESTYLE
  • On the women’s side Victoria Fonville won the 50 yard free style in 22.81, narrowly edging out Western’s Randi Yarnell (22.88). Earlier in prelims, Fonville broke the meet record recording a time of 22.73.
    • CSU-Pueblo’s Phoebe Pontious broke her own school record in the prelims (24.52).
  • In the men’s race, Colorado Mesa freshman Zander Minano not only won the event in 20.00 second but he also set a school record.
• 200 YD INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
  • For the second straight year, Marizel Van Jaarsveld won the women’s race. She defended her title with a time of 2:01.62.
  • In an intense men’s race, Colorado Mesa freshman Arthur Cury took an early lead before relinquishing it to teammate, Mahmoud Elgayar and eventually Colorado School of Mines senior Jonathan Donehower. Cury used a furious freestyle leg to recapture the lead and get the win in 1:49.36.
• MEN’S 3-METER DIVING
  • There were eight divers in the event with it becoming a battle, as the final three dives, the top three finishers traded the top spot. All three also broke the RMAC Meet record for points. Noah Macomber of Colorado Mesa won the event with 599.90 points while last year’s champion Ammar Hassan finished in second with a score of 597.80 while Oklahoma Baptist senior Otto Lehtonen finished third with 583.75 points,
• 200 YD MEDLEY RELAY
  • Oklahoma Baptist’s team of Maddie Carson, Juliana Cifuentes, Victoria Fonville and Julie Day won the title in 1:43.24.
  • The Bison swept the event as the team of Robinson Molina, Davion Conley, Gabriel Knaut and Felipe Zapata posted a time of 1:28.25.

Day 2 will begin tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM CST. For information and live streaming/results, visit the RMAC Swimming and Diving Championships Central Page.

Day 2

LEWISVILLE, Texas – Records continued to be broken at the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships as three more meet records went down on day two. That brings the total to four records broken thus far.

FINAL RESULTS

• 200 Freestyle Relay
  • In the women’s race Marizel Van Jaarsveld, Jamie Edwards, Julie Day and Victoria Fonville of Oklahoma Baptist topped the field with a time of 1:33.04.Fonville broke the meet leadoff record with a first leg swim of 22.71.
  • Oklahoma Baptist’s quartet of Robinson Molina, Austin Saunders, Alexander Leff and Gabriel Knaut finished first recording a time of 1:21.12.
• 400 Individual Medley
  • Van Jaarsveld toppled the field by more almost 6 seconds as she stopped the clock in a time of 4:21.85.
  • In the men’s race, Jonathan Donehower of Colorado School of Mines took home the title as he finished in a time of 3:58.12.
• 100 Butterfly
  • Randi Yarnell of Western topped the field as she hit the timing pad in 54.68.
  • Colorado Mesa’s Pedro Terres Illescas dueled it out with Oklahoma Baptists, Felipe Zapata as Terres Illescas earned the victory in a time of 48.19. Zapata finished with a time of 48.93.
• 200 Freestyle
  • Yarnell topped her earlier race by coming back to break the RMAC meet record clocking a time of 1:49.07.
  • Freshman Arthur Cury of Colorado Mesa then jumped in the pool and swam an RMAC meet record recording a time of 1:37.02.
• Women’s 1-meter dive
  • Women: Brittany Dixon of Colorado Mesa took home the crown after finishing with 452.80 points.
  • In the prelims, Dixon set a new RMAC meet record as she totaled 461.55 points.
• 400 Medley Relay
  • Oklahoma Baptist swept the women’s relays once again today as the Bison team of Van Jaarsveld, Juliana Cifuentes, Day and Fonville swam a time of 3:48.91.
  • In a very intense men’s race, it was Colorado Mesa who edged Oklahoma Baptist for the team title in the relay as Lane Austin, Mahmoud Elgayar, Terres Illescas and Cury swam a 3:15.03. Oklahoma Baptist finished with an overall time of 3:15.22.

Day Three will begin tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM CST. For information and live streaming/results, visit the RMAC Swimming and Diving Championships Central Page.

Day 3

LEWISVILLE, Texas – Day Three of the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships brought fans to their feet with several tight races and a huge dive in the finals on Friday night at the Lewisville ISD Westside Aquatic Center.

TEAM STANDINGS

• Colorado Mesa continues to lead both men’s and women’s team races with 1,000.5 points and 1,752 points, respectively.
• Oklahoma Baptist is sitting in second in both the men (730 points) and women (578 points).
• Colorado School of Mines (569 points) and Oklahoma Christian (439.5 points) round out the scorers for the men.
• Here are the remaining standings in the women’s
  • Dixie State — 450.50
  • Colorado School of Mines — 424
  • Western — 309
  • CSU-Pueblo — 233
  • Oklahoma Christian — 203
  • Adams State — 137
  • University of Nebraska-Kearney — 112

FINAL RESULTS

• 500 Freesytle
  • Mia Wood dominated the women’s race and won by more than seven seconds as she broke the five-minute barrier in 4:59.39.
  • Colorado Mesa went 1-2-3 in the men’s competition with Logan Ellis winning the title in 4:31.02 fending off a furious kick in the final three lengths by teammates Jackson Wuthrich (4:32.05) and Torsten Rau (4:35.21).
• 100 Backstroke
  • In the women’s race, Savannah Tice of Western overcame a first-lap deficit to earn the win in 55.60. Sara Fillerup of Colorado Mesa finished in second in 56.18.
  • After setting a new RMAC meet record of 47.73 in the prelims, Oklahoma Baptist sophomore Robinson Molina wowed the crowd as he bested that by 200th of a second to win the title in the evening session with a time of 47.71.
• 100 Breaststroke
  • In a very close race, Oklahoma Baptist went 1-2 with Julianna Cifuentes (1:02.53) narrowly defeating her teammate and the No. 1 seeded Victoria Fonville (1:03.10).
  • In the men’s race, Colorado Mesa freshman Mahmoud Elgayer won the title in 54.38.
• 200 Butterfly
  • Marizel Van Jaarsveld of Oklahoma Baptist (2:01.83) led wire to wire in the women’s race as she held off a third lap push from Colorado Mesa’s Danielle Jefferies (2:03.15).
  • In the prelims, Colorado Mesa junior Pedro Terres Illescas set an RMAC Meet record (1:47.21). That record didn’t stand for long, however, as Terres Illescas shattered it in the finals with a win of 1:45.60, just off the ‘A’ standard qualifying time for nationals.
• Men’s 1-Meter diving
  • Colorado Mesa sophomore added another RMAC Meet record to his list of accolades by using a huge reverse 2 ½ somersault tuck in his fifth jump to earn 73.50 points en route to his crown in which he scored 589.80.
• 800 Freestyle Relay
  • Colorado Mesa chased the RMAC Meet record but came up just short as they led from the beginning and earned the win in 7:33.51.
  • In the men’s final, Colorado Mesa saw Oklahoma Christian take the lead through the first two legs of the race, however, the Mavericks took the lead in the third heat and they did not relinquish it. The Mavericks won in 6:40.09 while the Eagles took second in 6:48.33.

The fourth and final day of the RMAC Swimming and Diving Championships will begin tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM CST. For information and live streaming/results, visit the RMAC Swimming and Diving Championships Central Page.

Day 4

LEWISVILLE, Texas – The 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships wrapped up Saturday evening at the Lewisville ISD Westside Aquatic Center. The Mavericks of Colorado Mesa earned both the men’s and women’s team title as the men broke the RMAC men’s team score. This marked the third time in men’s program history and a first on the women’s side.

TEAM STANDINGS

• Colorado Mesa men tallied an impressive 1,261 points while the women won with a total of 1,019.5 points.
• Oklahoma Baptist finished runners-up in both the men’s and women’s standings as the Bison men earned 941 points and the women scored 789 points.
• Colorado School of Mines (753 points) and Oklahoma Christian (615 points) round out the scorers for the men.
• Here are the remaining standings for the women’s
  • Dixie State — 608.5
  • Colorado School of Mines — 553
  • Western — 431
  • CSU-Pueblo — 324
  • Oklahoma Christian — 267
  • Adams State — 175
  • University of Nebraska-Kearney — 142

FINAL RESULTS

• 1,650 Freestyle
  • In the longest race of the Championships it was Mia Wood of Colorado School of Mines that bested the field with a time of 17:11.56.
  • Freshman, Logan Ellis of Colorado Mesa was the first to touch the pad as he recorded a time of 15:55.25.
• 100 Freestyle
  • Randi Yarnell of Western was the lone swimmer to break the 50 second barrier as she finished in 49.12.
  • In the most exciting race of the night, Brandon Heredia of Oklahoma Christian and Arthur Cury of Colorado Mesa put on a show for the fans and finished in a tie for first as both got to the touch pad in 44.75.
• 200 Backstroke
  • Braking the 2:00 minute barrier was Savannah Tice of Western who recorded a time of 1:59.00.
  • In a tightly contested battle Drew Dickson of Oklahoma Baptist finished in first with an overall time of 1:47.85. Oklahoma Christian’s Bergen Davis finished closely behind for second with a time of 1:47.85.
• 200 Breaststroke
  • Juliana Cifuentes of Oklahoma Baptist captured the title swimming a time of 2:17.13.
  • Colorado Mesa’s Mahmoud Elgayar recorded a time of 2:01.02 to win by over one second.
• Women’s 3-Meter Five
  • Genesi Veliz Caceres of Oklahoma Baptist totaled 474.70 points which was almost 35 points ahead of second place.
• 400 Freestyle Relay
  • The Oklahoma Baptist squad won by over three seconds as Marizel Van Jaarsveld, Victoria Fonville, Jamie Edwards and Miriam Avila recorded a time of 3:25.61.
  • The Bison men capped off the meet as the team of Robinson Molina, Ryan Walker, Gabriel Knaut and Drew Dickson combined for a time of 2:58.26.

Swimmer of the Meet
Marizel Van Jaarsveld, Oklahoma Baptist
Arthur Cury, Colorado Mesa

Diver of the Meet
Brittany Dixon, Colorado Mesa
Ammar Hassan, Colorado Mesa

Swimmer of the Year
Randi Yarnell, Western
Peyton Scherschel, Colorado School of Mines

Diver of the Year
Abby Smith, Colorado Mesa
Otto Lehtonen, Oklahoma Baptist

Coach of the Year
Geoff Hansen, Colorado Mesa (M/W)